US Patent 7787370 Technique for adaptively load balancing connections in multi-link trunks

A technique for adaptively load balancing connections in multi-link trunks is disclosed. The present invention provides an adaptive load balancing algorithm that utilizes relative link quality metrics to adjust traffic distribution between links. Link quality metrics may include short-term averages of an observed packet drop rate for each member link in a bundle. The present invention may dynamically adjust the number of flows on each link in proportion to available bandwidth. In addition, link quality metrics may be equalized, such that no link is more lossy than the others.